In The Ghost of King Leopold, Hoschild shares with his readers the unfamiliar story of the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold of Belgium and the horrific crimes committed against humanity for economic and political purposes. The author's goal in this book was to raise awareness of what happened at this time in history. Hoschild shows us that much of history as we know it is biased and Eurocentric. Often, history is written or monitored by those in power (politically or economically) and their biases are based on malice, ignorance, or self-preservation. Throughout this book, Hoschild was able to illuminate and explore the other side of this very unknown part of history by investigating and including sources that had been forgotten or suppressed. The book begins by explaining the early expeditions to the Congo and Leopold's plans to colonize and find ways to profit from the ivory and rubber trade in Africa. Hoschild described a large number of atrocities and events themselves from numerous first-hand testimonies, documents and archives that were preserved thanks to the Congo reform movement. He referenced much of his work by Morton Stanley as well as Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." I think throughout the book you can clearly see the author's frustration with the horrible events that happened and how they went so easily unnoticed by the rest of the world. The population of the Congo was almost halved as a result of this genocide and he points out that if there were not many of these first-hand accounts, much of the history would be "forgotten" and passed between the meshes of the net. An example of this became clear to me when Henry Morton Stanley's true intention was revealed. In many history books...... middle of paper ...... or have done in the past. The best way to address these issues responsibly is to connect history to our current world and learn. In many ways, Hoschild showed his frustration to his readers that history is written in such a biased way and is often biased and perceived in a false way. Hoschshild often referred to the discoveries of other researchers and provided numerous documents on historical events in the Congo. These primary sources were how he educated and informed his readers with as much context as necessary. Throughout the book you can see that he is very passionately opposed to the events in the Congo, but I don't think that takes away any credibility from his story. In many situations throughout history, the past has been "forgotten" or left aside in order to preserve the image of a person or country or for other reasons and to keep people naive and in ignorance..